GENESEO, NY - Utica University's men's soccer team continued their run in the Empire 8 Championship tournament by traveling to face #1-seeded SUNY Geneseo. The semi-final matchup between the #1 and #5 seeds saw a Utica goal with just over a minute left to force overtime, and eventually penalty kicks. In the shootout, the Knights won by a score of 5-4. This result concludes the Utica men's soccer 2025 season.
Jalen Lucero (Albuquerque, NM/Higley) scored the lone Pioneer goal, coming off an assist by Byamungu Mugushu (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes). Utica took 10 shots on goal in the contest, split between five players. Mugushu led the team with three, followed by Lucero, Noah Nassberg (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast), and Carter Cookinham (Poland, NY/Poland) with two. Felix-Assa Loselose (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) was credited with the team's final shot on target. Zachary Accetta (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) stopped five of six shots that he saw over the 110 minutes of play.
Geneseo's opening goal was scored by Jace DiPalo with an assist credited to Dylan Thody. The Knights totaled seven shots on goal as a team, with DiPalo being the only player with two. Max Crothall played a strong game in net for Geneseo, making nine saves in the 110 minutes. Crothall made a save on the final shot of penalty kicks to secure the win for his team.
The Knights struck first at the 31:50 mark with DiPalo's goal, coming off of a pass into the box by Thody. Despite a tight challenge by a Pioneer defender, DiPalo redirected the ball into the lower right corner. Utica maintained heavy possession of the ball throughout the game, but Geneseo's back line played incredibly, consistently shutting down Pioneers possessions as they reached the penalty area. With just over a minute on the clock, Utica was giving their all in order to keep their season alive. Mugushu controlled the ball near the top of the penalty area, passing to Lucero, who shot to the upper left corner, hitting the post. The ball bounced right on top of the goal line, getting tangled in a Geneseo defender's feet, and rolling into the goal to tie the game.
Neither team could score in the remaining regulation time, or the 20 minutes of overtime. The penalty kick shootout occurred as follows:
GEN #8-Low left goal
UTC #7-Upper middle goal
GEN #10-Low right saved
UTC #10-Upper right goal
GEN #25-Upper middle goal
UTC #6-Lower right goal
GEN #22-Upper left goal
UTC #21-Upper left goal
GEN #9-Lower left goal
UTC #8-Upper right saved
GEN #3-Lower right goal
UTC #9-Lower left saved
The result wraps up the 2025 season for Utica men's soccer. The Pioneers will now eye their return to play in fall of 2026.
